


Il Treno dei Desideri

by thisfairytalegonebad



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Coffee date, M/M, Rin's day goes from terrible to amazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 21:07:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13443417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisfairytalegonebad/pseuds/thisfairytalegonebad
Summary: To say Rin's day starts out shitty would be an understatement. And trying to stop a door on a train from closing by flinging your bag at it is a bad idea. Rin learns that the hard way when his bag makes it on the train in time, and he doesn't.Thankfully, there are helpful strangers who also happen to be very, very cute.





	Il Treno dei Desideri

**Author's Note:**

> I love RinRei but I never thought I'd get enough inspiration to write them. Yet here we are. Hope you enjoy!

Rin woke up because the sun was shining directly into his eyes, which was strange, because usually when he got up for his morning run, there was definitely no sun yet.

The thought lingered idly in the back of his mind for a few seconds before the meaning of it hit him full force.

“Shit!” he exclaimed, suddenly a lot more awake than he had been just a moment ago. He jumped out of bed, or tried to, because during the night, he had apparently somehow tangled himself in his blanket, so he went crashing straight to the floor instead.

He ended up with his face smushed into the blanket, both knees throbbing painfully because they had taken the brunt of his fall, and his head mere centimetres from his nightstand. A bit more to the left, and he could have added a hole in his head to this already exceptionally wonderful morning.

With a muffled groan, he pushed himself off the floor, untangled himself, and stumbled to the kitchen where he turned the electric kettle on. A quick glance at the clock told him he was definitely too late for a run, and already pretty late for class, but at least he hadn’t missed his train yet. Maybe he could make it in time with a lot of luck after all.

He rushed back to the bathroom, brushed his teeth not nearly as thoroughly as he would have liked, and splashed some cold water into his face, hoping that it’d make him look a bit more awake, like a human being who had his shit together.

After a few times of pulling his brush through his tangled hair, he sighed in defeat. That wasn’t going to get any better, and since washing his hair was out of the question, he pulled it back into a messy ponytail. That’d have to do.

Gathering his clothes was easy enough, thankfully. He’d always been kind of fussy when it came to keeping his room organized, so all he had to do was to grab his jeans and yesterday’s relatively clean shirt from The Chair where all the clothes ended up when they were too dirty for the wardrobe but too clean for the laundry basket.

Back in the kitchen, Rin discovered with satisfaction that the water in the electric kettle was boiling by now, so he quickly poured it into a thermos jug, added a few spoonfuls of coffee, and took a long sip that promptly burnt his tongue. Grimacing, he put the lid on and threw the thermos into his bag. Whatever. He’d just drink it on the way.

When he turned around a bit too enthusiastically to leave the kitchen, he nearly swept a dirty mug off the counter with his bag. “Damnit, Sousuke!” Rin cursed. No matter how many times he told him to _move his dirty stuff into the sink_ , Sousuke just couldn’t do it. One day, Rin swore, he was going to _murder_ him.

With one quick look back to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything, Rin pulled his shoes on and left the apartment. It took him an agonizingly long time to find his keys he had foolishly left in his bag - at the very bottom, he discovered when he finally pulled them from the depths of his bag. At this rate, he needed a miracle if he still wanted to catch his train.

Not quite able to work up enough motivation to run, or at least jog to the station, Rin settled for some sort of power walk that probably looked very silly, but the advantage of being late was that pretty much every other person who could have seen him had most likely already left for work, or class, or whatever responsibilities they had.

Thankfully, his and Sousuke’s apartment wasn’t too far from the station, so he made it there in a relatively short time, but when the train tracks came within eyeshot, he regretted his earlier decision of power walking instead of running. The train was already pulling into the station, and Rin was still far enough that by the time he would be there, the train would already be leaving.

Rin broke into a full sprint, cursing between clenched teeth, “God _fucking_ damnit!”

As he got closer to the train, it looked like he might make it for a few seconds, but then, when he’d reached the top of the stairs that led to the platform, the doors began to close.

Rin dove down the stairs at breakneck speed, nearly losing his footing more than once, and without thinking twice about it, he followed his brain’s desperate plan for one last attempt to catch that damn train before it left right before his nose: he ripped his bag from his shoulder and flung it towards the door. The plan had been for his bag to land between the doors to keep them from closing, but while the bag landed safely between the doors, it didn’t come to a halt there. Instead, it kept sliding further inside the train. The door closed, uninterrupted, and the train took off.

Not moving for a full minute, Rin stared at the now empty train tracks, unable to process what had just happened. But after he had fully realised how much bad luck that had been, and how badly he’d embarrassed himself in front of the people on the train, he let out a string of very colourful curses that would have made any decent person blush. With a strong kick, he redirected his anger at a nearby trash can, but the only thing that happened was that he hit his toe just right to trigger another outburst of even more creative curses.

After a few minutes of throwing a tantrum like a little child - he was a college student, damnit, he was supposed to be better than this - Rin sat down on a bench, panting heavily. Well. This day was officially shit. He would have to take the next train, he’d be late to his class, and he had no idea how to get his bag back. Awesome.

When the next train slowed down in the station, he trudged to the nearest door miserably and slumped down on an empty seat. If only he had his thermos with him now, so he could have had some coffee to comfort himself at least, but no, it just had to be in his bag that was on its way to… wherever this train went, along with his other stuff.   
“Good thing I didn’t bring my laptop today,” he muttered to himself, but it did little to cheer him up.

Rin kept mulling over how much he hated his life right now until the train chimed to alert him to the next stop - his stop.

When he stepped out of the train and was about to start walking, someone appeared next to him. “Excuse me!”

Rin jumped, he hadn’t even noticed the person walk up to him.

“Oh, I apologize, I didn’t mean to startle you! But I’ve got your bag, you know, the one you lost on the train.”

Well. That was one way to put it. It was really unnecessary to specify like this guy did, as if Rin threw bags into trains then let them travel on their own on a regular basis, but honestly, the relief that flooded Rin’s entire body weighted out anything else.

“Seriously?!” he gasped. “God, _thank you_!” Taking the bag from his saviour, Rin took a better look at the guy for the first time. About his age, he guessed, with neatly combed blue hair, and purple eyes - _gorgeous_ purple eyes - behind a pair of red glasses.

Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Rin ran his fingers through his hair and looked away. God, that was just his luck. He met a cute guy, and it just happened to be a cute guy who most likely watched him nearly fall down some stairs then throw his bag into a train he ended up missing. And he hadn’t even washed his hair this morning. Sousuke was going to laugh at him forever if he ever told him about this.

The cute guy was already talking again. “-should really be more careful when descending stairs. You could have fallen and hurt yourself! Catching a train is not worth an injury!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rin shrugged, then forced himself to look the guy in the eye again. “Listen, thank you for retrieving my bag, uh…”

“Ryuugazaki Rei,” the guy introduced himself with a bow. “I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Matsuoka Rin,” Rin said, bowing quickly as well because this guy seemed to care for formalities a lot. “And likewise.” He hesitated for a moment. “Uh, do you want to go have coffee or something? My treat. As a thank you. I haven’t had my coffee yet this morning, my thermos is, well, in the bag. And now I’m late for class anyway, so, might as well be very late, I guess…” He trailed off, because he realized he was babbling, and Ryuugazaki probably had somewhere to be, and wow, yeah, not only had the cutest guy he’d seen in a while watched him embarrass himself, but he was also keeping him from being wherever he needed to be.

Rin was already bracing himself for the inevitable rejection, when Ryuugazaki, albeit hesitant, replied, “Well… I, too, am now late for my class… and I dislike walking in late… so I suppose skipping once would be… acceptable.” He looked physically pained, either by the idea of being late or of skipping completely - or maybe even of spending more time with Rin.

Already regretting having suggested it in the first place, Rin laughed nervously. “You don’t have to accept! I don’t want you to miss class! I just wanted to return the favour, but we could probably work out something else, that’s fine.”

Finally, Ryuugazaki smiled. It was a small smile, and a bit shy, but it was genuine, and Rin hated how it made his heart beat faster. “No, I would like to have coffee with you, Matsuoka-san. Thank you for the invitation.”

“Okay, great! Uh, I know a place we could go to? I go there to study sometimes after class, it’s nice and quiet.” Rin took Rei’s nod as approval, so he started leading the way to the café. “Call me Rin, by the way. So, you’re a student here too?”

Ryuugazaki nodded. “Very well. Call me Rei, then. I am a first-year physics major.”

“Physics, huh? Not bad. I’m an English major, second year.” Rin said.

“Oh, you must be very good at English, then!” Rei said with admiration. “I like English, and I believe my grammar is quite decent, but unfortunately, my pronunciation is terrible.”

Rin shrugged. “I’ve lived in Australia for some time when I was younger. Being immersed like that helps you get a good grasp on every aspect of a language.” Ever since he’d returned to Japan, he’d been grateful for the English skills his stay abroad had given him. While classmates had struggled with English all throughout high school, and some even now that they were majoring in it, he’d been able to get through class almost effortlessly.

The rest of their walk to the café was quiet, and Rin occasionally snuck a glance at Rei. This day had started out more than shitty, but now he was feeling pretty lucky. Rei was… well very handsome, and he seemed a bit stuck up, but somehow it suited him, dorky glasses and all. Adorably nerdy was what Rin would’ve called him, not that he’d ever admitted that out loud. Sousuke already teased him constantly for being a sap, he certainly didn’t need to provide any further evidence.

“I did not know this place,” Rei commented as they entered the café. It was quiet and almost empty like Rin had promised.

“Few do, I think. I stumbled across it by accident.” Rin agreed as he made his way to his favourite table. “Or my roommate did, actually. I’ve known him for half my life, and I swear his sense of direction is getting worse and worse. Sometimes he gets himself lost so badly I have to go collect him. That’s how we found this place.”

Rei laughed, and Rin’s heart skipped a beat. “Your friend sounds like a great person. At least it won’t be boring with him, will it?”

“No, it sure won’t,” Rin grinned. “I’m gonna go get us something to drink. What do you want?”

“Regular black please,” Rei said, and looked mildly uncomfortable at the thought of making Rin get his order.

“Coming right away.” Rin made his way over to the counter. Absentmindedly, he ordered Rei’s coffee, and his usual, then went back to their table balancing the two mugs carefully.

From there, time just flies, and talking to Rei already felt so natural despite having only known him for a short time. Disappointment washed over Rin when he realised their mugs were already empty, and they were probably supposed to go to their next class. He really didn’t want to leave, but keeping Rei there for longer after having taken up so much of his time already would’ve been selfish. “So, yeah, uh… we should try to make it to our next classes?”

He expected Rei to agree, to be eager to go back to his classes, but to Rin’s utter surprise, he did nothing of the sort. Instead, he pulled his phone from his pocket, took a quick glance at it, then smiled uncertainly. “Unfortunately, Rin-senpai, the next class also appears to have started already, so… we might as well stay here for a bit longer? I’ll pay for the coffee, this time?”

Rin stared at him for a second, then he grinned so broadly his cheeks hurt. “Uh, yeah! Yeah, I’d like that! But you don’t have to pay, I can do that.”

“Nonsense,” Rei brushed him off. “It’s not a problem. Are you taking the same thing as before?”

Rin nodded, and Rei sauntered off to the counter. All of Rin felt warm all of a sudden, and he felt weirdly giddy. And Rei had called him _Rin-senpai_ \- he should have been used to that, due to being friends with Ai all throughout high school, but while Ai’s admiration had made him feel both awkward and honoured, Rei using the term for him actually made him blush.

He buried his face in his hands and giggled helplessly. This day was getting better and better!

A buzzing sound made him look up again. Rei’s phone, which he had kept on the table after checking the time, flashed with a text, and Rin read it before he realised he was doing it.

 _(◉Θ◉)Nagisa(◉Θ◉):_ _rei-chan where are u u never miss class unless ur dying_ , it read, followed by an unholy amount of emojis.

The phone went dark, and flashed again with a second text just five seconds later.

 _(◉Θ◉)Nagisa(◉Θ◉):_ _like literally dying like that time u had appendicitis but didnt see a doctor and still went to class and almost died_

For a brief moment, Rin wondered who this Nagisa person was. Rei’s… girlfriend, maybe? Or boyfriend, he wasn’t one to judge people with feminine names, he had one of those himself after all. They were calling Rei Rei-chan… but Rin had to admit to himself that the chances of Rei being romantically involved with this Nagisa were slim, after all, Rei most likely wouldn’t have been this willing to spend time with him if he was already taken.

Also… Rei never missed class? Yet he was here, missing not one, but _two_ classes, just to be with Rin? Oh, _god_ , Rin’s heart could not handle this!

Rin was about to put his face back in his hands to hide his blush when Rei returned. Barely able to keep himself from letting out a startled sound because Rei had managed to sneak up on him again, Rin gestured at Rei’s phone weakly. “You’ve got a text.” He took the steaming mug Rei held out to him gratefully. “Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome,” Rei said, sitting back down. “A text, you said? Ah, that’s probably Nagisa-kun. He must be curious about my whereabouts, he’s in the same class I would’ve had this morning.”

Ah. So Nagisa was a boy. “You should reply to him, then,” Rin suggested. Rei looked like he might protest, but Rin didn’t let him talk. “He must be worried,” he added, and that did the trick. Rei apologized for being so rude and texting while being out with Rin, but took his phone reluctantly and typed out a quick reply.

Nagisa seemed to be a _very_ fast texter; while Rei was still holding his phone after having sent his reply, it already vibrated again. The look on Rei’s face made Rin almost wish he knew what Nagisa was saying. It was amazing; Rin had never seen a person blush so fast, and so hard. Without bothering to reply, Rei stuffed his phone back into his pocket, looking mortified.

Rin would have liked to tease him a bit about it, but he didn’t want to risk scaring him off. After all, he didn’t even have his number yet. “So, who’s this Nagisa?” he asked instead. “Your friend?” At this point, it was highly unlikely that Nagisa was Rei’s boyfriend, but it didn’t hurt to make sure, right?

Apparently, it had been the right thing to ask, because Rei’s face brightened instantly. “Yes! I’ve known Nagisa-kun since high school, but it feels like much longer. He is my best friend. At times, he can be… quite exhausting, frankly, it is like he has infinite energy.”

“Like a perpetual motion machine?” Rin offered without thinking about it, but the effect it had on Rei was instantaneous. He stared at Rin with his mouth slightly open, and there was a faint blush colouring his cheeks.

“Uh, Rei?”

“I- ah, yes, sorry, I was just… surprised, I’m- yes, yes, you could say he is like a perpetual motion machine, in a way. That’s a perfect analogy, actually!”

Rin wasn’t sure what had caused Rei’s momentary blackout, but at least he didn’t think he had said anything _wrong_. “He sounds like a great guy,” he repeated Rei’s words from earlier when they had been talking about Sousuke. “He probably keeps you on your toes all the time, doesn’t he?”

“Oh, yes, he certainly does!” Rei agreed, having completely recovered aside from the light blush that lingered. “There was this one time, we-”

As Rei launched into a story about Nagisa’s impossible antics, Rin propped his head up on his fist and observed Rei with his head tilted as he listened. He didn’t care if Sousuke would have called him a sap for the rest of his life for the thought, but he found he definitely didn’t want to let this boy walk out of that café without the promise of getting to see him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah so the perpetual motion machine thing is supposed to be Rei REALLY REALLY FLUSTERED because ?? the hot guy in front of him just made a physics reference? Makes his lil nerd heart go doki doki. 
> 
> Also, ponytail Rin. I'm so weak. 
> 
> Title is a line from the Italian song Azzurro by Adriano Celentano, we used to sing it in Italian class and it's fun. The line just means "Train of desires". 
> 
> This isn't proofread, neither by myself nor anyone else, because I'm so excited and proud of this, I want to post it before I go to bed, so please, please, do tell me about any kind of mistakes. Typos, grammar, logic, anything, and I'll fix it. 
> 
> Comments would make my day!


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